This is a continuation of international application No. PCT/DE99/01763, filed on Jun. 12, 1999.
The invention relates to an inking method and apparatus for pasty printing inks in printing presses.
Inking systems in printing presses with an ink tray, an ink tray roller and plurality of ink dosing elements longitudinally along the ink tray roller at the bottom of the ink tray and establishing a variable ink gap are known e.g. from German patent No. 3,030,774. The more viscous (pasty) printing ink is filled into the open wedge-shaped ink storage space formed between the bottom of the ink tray including the ink dosing elements and the ink tray roller.
The very large ink storage space and with it the difficulties during ink change and cleaning are problematic. Furthermore ink zone related ink dosing is only possible by ink dosing elements.
Inking systems with a reduced wedge-shaped ink storage space and in closed design are also known e.g. from German patent No. 4,339,939. The inking of the reduced and closed ink storage space is made with pressurized ink cartridges. The difficulties with ink dosing and cleaning are also not eliminated in this case.
It is the object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for inking with improved ink dosing and reduced need for cleaning.
The foregoing object is solved according the invention by separating the amount of printing ink into a minimal amount of printing ink and a consumed amount of printing ink. The minimal amount of printing ink is contained in the ink tray and the consumed amount of printing ink is applied directly to the ink tray roller.